Prep Soccer: Trinity Christian stays unbeaten, downs Heritage School

Trinity Christian boys soccer coach Chad Whittle knows it's early in the season, but he thinks his Lions' second year in GISA could be special.

Whittle has reason for being so optimistic.

His team is off to a fast 4-0 start and the jump to Class AAA this season hasn't seemed to bother the Lions a bit.

"We have good chemistry this year and everything seems to be following into place," Whittle said.

Trinity Christian's biggest win of the year so far came Thursday night at rival Heritage School as the Lions cruised to a 5-1 win. The loss dropped Heritage School to 1-3.

"It's always good to get a region win, especially against your biggest rivals," he said.

(To view photos from this game, please visit http://photos.times-herald.com/mycapture and click on Sports for the Photo Gallery.)

Cody Houser set the offensive tone for the Lions with three goals.

The Lions took control of the game in the first half, jumping out to a 3-0 lead by the break.

Trinty Christian's Rinaldi Alphonse missed on his first two shots on goal early in the game, but he gave the Lions a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest when he put the ball in the back of the Hawks' goal for the first score.

Just a few minutes later, Alphonse left for nearly 20 minutes when he went down hard with a shoulder injury. The Lions didn't miss a beat.

Midway through the first half, the Lions took a 2-0 lead when Calb Hess fed the ball on a cross pass to Houser, who scored on a header.

The Lions added to their margin right with 6:43 left before the break when Keith Lyons found the mark.

Despite its four-goal victory, the Lions could have won by a bigger margin had it not for the goal play of Heritage School's Ben Dudley. The Heritage School senior stopped more than 15 shots to keep more balls out of the back of his own net.

Trinity Christian took less than five minutes into the second half to addto its side of the scoreboard.

Alphonse dribbled the ball down the field and found Houser for a 4-1 lead. About six minutes later, the Lions increased the lead to 5-0 when Luke Murray passed the ball to Houser, who again scored to compete his three-goal night.

The Hawks managed to put their only points on the board off the foot off an eighth grader. Carlisle Taylor did the damage for the Hawks with 20:13 left in the period for the Hawks' lone goal of the night.

With less than three minutes left in the game, the Hawks' David Martin and Muneeb Syed had Heritage School's final chances to score.

Both team's next games are at Arlington Christian. Heritage School plays Arlington today. Trinity Christian goes to the Fairburn School Monday.